moy71

Actually from what I gather, the nose wheel is in fact on the ground and that's the cause of the problem I was having: even little pedal movement goes a long way and I ended up snaking/swerving. However as you and Turboplanner has suggested, I will definetly try pulling on the stick back on landing (as though I was landing on grass again). I recall that on touchdown, i simply let the stick go to the neutral position too early.

Is this holding-the-stick-back applicable to all planes or only to the Jabiru range?

Because I land on grass strips 9 times out of 10, I find that maintaining the plane on the runway centreline is very forgiving. The friction caused by the wheels landing on grass is sufficient to slow me down and swerving rarely occurs if at all. This plus the fact that from early on, I was taught by my instructor after landing on grass to pull back on the stick all the way once firmly on the ground (soft field landing) progressively as the plane slows down. Well the other day I had a rare chance of landing on a hard surface runway (bitumen) and I did not pull back on the stick at all as I would normally do on grass runways. I had a devil of a time from keeping on the centreline. In fact I was doing snake bends and swerving all over the place. My question therefore is this: on hard surface runways, should I be pullling the stick back (even if a little) once the wheels are planted firmly on the ground? My thinking is that I should. Thereby relying more on the rudder to maintain runway alignment rather than the nosewheel - at least until the aircraft slows down sufficiently enough so that swerving no longer occurs. Comments anyone please! ps.. I realise that there is the possibility that my pedal use may also be heavy-handed (or footed) as again back on grass medium deflection only has small effects. pps.. Jabiru LSA is the plane I am referring to.

BLA82, may I ask what plane you had custom made?

I actually saw those this morning. I agree, they look very good. In fact they are my "fall-back" in case I don't find anything else. Thank you.

Hello all. I am trying to find a die-cast / plastic kit / scale kit / etc of a Jabiru LSA55 or similar plane. Been looking on ebay, hobby shops and overseas but the Jabiru range is nearly non-existent. Heck I'd consider the "matchbox" range too if they have it. Anyone had any luck in this area? I am after one simply for posterity's sake as it is the plane I learned to fly in. Thanks!

Thank you so much Ken....these are for all intents and purposes, what I am looking for!

Hello everyone. I am trying to get a copy of the Pilot Operating Handbook for Jabiru LSA55. The Jabiru website doesn't appear to have it. Does anyone have an online copy? I will happily pay for photocopying/postage if anyone has a hardcopy of it. Additionally, what are the stall speeds for clean, 1 stage & 2 stage flaps? Any info is very much appreciated. Thank you.

that's an excellent layman's explanation which i can understand easily. Thank you!

Thank you for the link. I will play with it this evening to see how I can save it to my GPS96.

sadly, my Garmin96 doesn't have that feature. Thanks for trying!

Hello Mike. Can you please explain what HLS stands for? Sorry newbie here....

Well I've done my small part to help the economy by splurging on my very first GSP. It is a Garmin 96 which is the cheapest one around. Monochrome monitor but it is rather sharp/clear for a small screen so I am not too fussed about it. After updating to the latest Jeppessen maps last night, I found out that the smaller flying fields are NOT listed (ie Mittagong, The Oaks to name a few). Bit annoyed about this but I have worked around this by putting in a manual waypoint which represents where these fields should be. Does anyone have a better solution than this? Appreciate your comments/tips. Cheers

To add more confusion to myself, I've read somewhere that others do a FORWARD-SLIP instead of a side-slip. Is this the same manoeuver or different?

didn't know this one existed. will try to find out more.... Thank you!!!!

Bummer! Just found out that there was the inaugural Light Aviation Expo last month in Florida with all the major players in the LSA present. Oh well...maybe next year.

Thank you everyone who assisted, I now have a direction to go. I am mainly interested in flying (if possible) the variety of LSA they have there...that cessna skycatcher is one plane i'd like to see up close (fly if i could) too.

Thanks for the tips guys. went ahead and bought the GME TX670 for $75 online. For a 2watt radio....it's the most attractive for the price.

Will be off to the US this year. Does anyone know if they have an RA-AUS equivalent over there? Would love to fly there if the opportunity exists.

When side-slipping the Jabiru aircraft on approach, does the nosewheel move in conjuction with the rudder? Or perhaps the nosewheel moves independantly of the rudder in flight? Why I ask is this: in a Left-to-right crosswind situation (using side-slip approach), the pilot would hold the left wing down and kick the right rudder to align the plane to the runway. Is the right rudder RELEASED to the neutral position just before touchdown of the nosewheel or is it released gradually? I am confused as to how the nosewheel would react if the pilot needs full right rudder on approach (remember sideslip) to maintain alignment and if he touches down in this position, would there be a tendency for the plane to loop to the right since it has touched down in the full right rudder position? I think I read somewhere that Cessnas have a mechanism that separates the wheel steering function from the rudder in flight. In other words when the right rudder is kicked in flight, the nosewheel REMAINS in the neutral position. Can anyone confirm this?

During summer I've noticed that after midday, you can pretty much expect bumpy conditions due to thermals and wind. Generally speaking, can I expect better conditions in winter when there is no heat/thermals? Or does winter flying present a new set of bumpy conditions? What about spring and autumn? Thank you.

May I ask what is your new one these days? That old one is looks mighty fine to me. A CT ?

With last night's $40M draw, I began daydreaming about what RA aircraft I would buy if I won the big one. Hmm, so many to choose from if money is of no concern. Top 3 on my list would be the following in a fully optioned version: 1. CTWS 2. Tecnam P92 Eaglet 3. Jabiru 230 What's yours?

I may have an opportunity to go to MEL and see the Avalon airshow. However, am interested only in the RA side at the moment. Traditionally, does RA have a presence in these shows?

Thanks for the helpful tips everyone. UHF appears to be the clear winner. Having a look at DSE and the like, there are models in the 1Watt to 5Watts range in the Motorola and Uniden range. Has anyone used the 1Watt model? I am assuming that it is line of sight therefore 1W may be enough but am guessing....